Changes to private health insurance legislation

As part of the Smaller Government – additional reductions in the number of Australian Government bodies initiative announced as part of the 2014-15 Budget, the Private Health Insurance Administration Council (the Council) was to cease as a separate body, and its prudential supervisory functions be transferred to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) from 1 July 2015.

The enabling legislation to give effect to the transfer of the Council’s prudential supervisory functions to APRA included amendments to the Private Health Insurance Act 2007. These amendments are specified within the Private Health Insurance (Prudential Supervision) (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2015 (Consequential and Transitional Provisions Act) which received Royal Assent on 26 June 2015.

Further, as a result of the Consequential and Transitional Provisions Act the following private health insurance rules have been revoked and remade to reflect APRA’s assumption of the position of private health insurance prudential regulator:

NB: Please note that information contained within this circular is provided as a courtesy notification only. It is the responsibility of industry members to ensure they are operating in compliance with the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 and all other relevant Commonwealth legislation.